5 oz of vanilla beans came in the mail today, 2 oz used for vanilla paste, used the dregs in the ninja to make vanilla bean mason jar ice cream, then chocolate ice cream. 2 oz in vodka, 1 oz into the vanilla mother jar and sugar in the bag the beans came in. Not bad for a days work.

Artisan Bread

Now that the weather is cooling off here in Arizona, I have had the itch to start baking bread again. I found this recipe for artisan bread at
https://www.simplysogood.com/cranberry-orange-almond-artisan-bread/
Last night I made the dough and added sharp cheddar and jalapeno to one for our daughter and asiago cheese and dill to the other for my husband and I.

Using a dough whisk makes all the difference in the world. I purchased this whisk as a 3 piece set on Amazon, which includes a rolling pin and a pastry cloth.   https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075BHTMJS/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1




















Waiting 18 hours is the hardest part!

While your cast iron enamel dutch oven(s) are preheating at 450 for 30 minutes in the oven, you can form your loaves. The dough is extremely shaggy, so be sure to flour your surface and hands thoroughly. I used my new pastry cloth and a dough scraper for this step. Don't overwork the dough, just form a ball. I placed on a sheet of parchment paper for easy transfer to the dutch oven.

Bake for 30 minutes covered at 450.

Uncover and bake an additional 15 minutes or until golden. Remove from oven and set aside to cool. Enjoy the most delicious crusty bread ever.

For Asaigo Cheese and Dill Bread

You will need:

3 cups all purpose flour

 1/2 teaspoon instant or rapid rise yeast

1 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 cup Asaigo cheese

1 teaspoon fresh Dill

1 1/2 cups cool water

In a large mixing bowl mix the flour, yeast and salt. Add the Asaigo cheese and Dill. Stir to coat with flour. Pour water in all at once. Stir the mixture together just until the water is absorbed into the flour. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit on the counter for 12-18 hours. Do NOT refrigerate.

Hint of Honey Lip Balm

I love to make this lip balm it's so easy and works wonders on chapped lips as well. I'm always saving Altoid tins so that I can use them for just this purpose.

Hint of honey lip balm : 2 tablespoons beeswax 1 tablespoon sweet almond oil 2 tablespoons coconut oil 2 tablespoons cocoa butter 1 teaspoon honey 20 drops of your favorite essential oil 6 small altoid tins.Melt the beeswax in a double boiler over low heat. Add coconut oil, cocoa butter, and sweet almond oil, melting the ingredients together. Remove from heat and wisk in the honey and essential oils. Pour the melted liquid into your lip balm containers and allow to cool to harden.

Obsessed with snowglobes

I admit I am super obsessed with snowglobes...at least making snowglobes. I will make them out of whatever I have handy at the moment. Dollar Tree has cute little vases that I found the other day that I was able to pair with 2 inch wood rounds from Michaels for 79 cents. A little mod podge, salt, glitter, a snow man and there you have a totally cute snow globe for under three bucks..check it out! Going to make a bunch up for upcoming craft fairs and see how they sell..What do you think a fair price is?

Cinnamon banana almond bread

So you have bananas and need to use them up...make banana bread! We love bread at our house, so decided to use them or lose them. My tried and true recipe is from Betty Crockers cookbook circa 1983: I opted to add the vanilla and cinnamon to the recipe

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

half cup each of granulated sugar and brown sugar

1/3 cup milk

1 egg

3 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt (I like to use kosher salt)

3 tbs oil (canola oil works well)

2 tbs vanilla extract

1 cup almond slices

2 or 3 tsp ground cinnamon

3 over ripe bananas, mashed

Heat oven to 350. Grease bottom only of loaf pan, then mix all ingredients and beat 30 seconds. Pour into your pan and bake 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Enjoy!

Getting Crafty

Gearing up for the holiday season and many craft shows coming up...so far I have not been faring well..but will not be discouraged! So far, we have traveled to Show Low and were caught in a huge wind storm and lost several pieces and had no sales but we took our daughter and camped in our Shasta over the weekend with 2 of our dogs...we had an awesome time bonding. Our next show we went to First Friday Art walk in downtown Phoenix and wouldn't you know..there was a huge rain storm...lost several pieces to the rain and wind and decided to pack it in and not even try to sell anything. I am in the midst of repairing things and making new! The good news is between Laney Junk Co and Gold Canyon, I have shows almost every weekend October through December booked. Look for me at Operation Jingle ball on Nov 2nd! Hoping for awesome sales and meeting wonderful people. Here are a few of my favorite things I have been working on.

 

Next Phase

So...deciding to leave my job and go into full time crafting and selling candles is a huge change to say the least...Starting over at 52 is kind of scary...majorly scary! but I am looking forward to the next phase of my life..changed our llc over to laney junk co...have 3 vendor events booked already...time to get my craft on...who knows, maybe I will become an extreme couponer next!